Retrofitting a Historic Building Envelope for Disaster Resilience and Sustainability

When impermeable ground bearing slabs are installed in old buildings without a damp-proof course, it is a common belief of practitioners within the conservation industry that ground moisture will be ‘driven’ up adjacent walls by capillary action. However, there is limited evidence to test this hypothesis. The accumulation of moisture in walls can promote the decay of the wall materials, decrease the thermal performance of the building envelope and adversely affect the comfort and health of occupants. An experiment was used to determine if the installation of a vapour-proof barrier above a stone flag floor in a historic building would increase moisture content levels in an adjacent stone rubble wall. This was achieved by undertaking measurements of wall, soil and atmospheric moisture content over a three-year period. Measurements taken using timber dowels showed that the moisture content within the wall did not vary in response to wall evaporation rates and did not increase following the installation of a vapour-proof barrier above the floor. This indicates that the moisture levels in the rubble wall were not driven by capillary rise.

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Assessment of the Energy Demands for Heating in an Historic Building. Case Study: Renewal of a Functionalist Building of the Infectious Diseases Pavilion in Topoľčany, Slovakia

Slovak Journal of Civil Engineering ◽

10.2478/sjce-2021-0025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 29-36

Author(s):

Andrea VargovÁ ◽

Rastislav Ingeli

Keyword(s):

Cultural Values ◽

Thermophysical Properties ◽

Slovak Republic ◽

Energy Performance ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Building Structures ◽

Historic Building ◽

Energy Demands ◽

Cultural Monuments

Abstract The case study seeks an optimal solution for preserving the cultural values of a functionalist building so that it fulfils the legislative essence of the protection of a historic building and, at the same time, contributes to the improvement of its thermophysical properties. The paper focuses on the degree of the application of energy performance requirements for the adaptive reuse of a historic building. The efforts to preserve cultural values (architectural, aesthetic, the value of the authenticity of an area and its building constructions, etc.) in legally protected buildings often do not permit the application of building construction processes such as those used in ordinary older buildings. The research responds to a situation where a building with historic values, built in a functionalist style (the 1940s), permits variants of the surface treatment of the facade so as to not disturb the essential stylistic values of that facade and, at the same time, reduce its energy demands to the required value. Heat demands for heating have a significant effect on the energy needs for heating and thus on the overall energy need of a building. The heat demands depend on the efficiency and quality of the thermal protection in buildings. In the case of cultural monuments, the calculation of the thermophysical properties of building structures forms the basis for determining the heating and cooling demands. Building structures and their elements that form the building envelope must meet current and demanding thermophysical requirements in accordance with the applicable standards, if technically and economically feasible. When restoring cultural monuments in the Slovak Republic, it is not required to meet requirements for energy efficiency. On the other hand, it is necessary to verify the thermophysical requirements in accordance with the applicable standards in each specific case. The paper responds to a continuing interdisciplinary discussion on this topic. The analysis is conducted within the scope of the KEGA 016STU-4/2017 project.

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Applying Active Thermography in the Non-Destructive Investigation of Historical Objects/ Zastosowanie Termowizji Aktywnej Do Badań Nieniszczących Obiektów Zabytkowych

Civil and Environmental Engineering Reports ◽

10.1515/ceer-2015-0026 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 105-115

Author(s):

Henryk Nowak ◽

Paweł Noszczyk

Keyword(s):

Thermal Conductivity ◽

Experimental Investigation ◽

Heat Capacity ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Practical Application ◽

Wall Model ◽

Historic Building ◽

Active Thermography ◽

Historical Objects ◽

Non Destructive

Abstract The paper pertains to the problem of historic building envelope investigation with the use of active thermography. Mainly emphasized is its application in the detection of different material inclusions in historic walls. Examples of active thermography in the reflective mode application and a description of the experimental investigation has been shown on a wall model with the inclusion of materials with significantly different thermal conductivity and heat capacity, i.e. styrofoam, steel and granite. Thermograms received for every kind of envelope are compared and analyzed. Finally, the summary and conclusion is shown along with the prospects of development and practical application of this kind of investigation in historic construction.

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Impact of roof shading on building energy performance in warm & humid climatic places of India

iCRBE Procedia ◽

10.32438/icrbe.202037 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 50-64

Author(s):

Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi ◽

Avlokita Agrawal

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Energy Conservation ◽

Energy Performance ◽

General Assumption ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Passive Cooling ◽

Base Case ◽

U Value ◽

The Impact

With the rise in awareness of energy efficient buildings and adoption of mandatory energy conservation codes across the globe, significant change is being observed in the way the buildings are designed. With the launch of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in India, climate responsive designs and passive cooling techniques are being explored increasingly in building designs. Of all the building envelope components, roof surface has been identified as the most significant with respect to the heat gain due to the incident solar radiation on buildings, especially in tropical climatic conditions. Since ECBC specifies stringent U-Values for roof assembly, use of insulating materials is becoming popular. Along with insulation, the shading of the roof is also observed to be an important strategy for improving thermal performance of the building, especially in Warm and humid climatic conditions. This study intends to assess the impact of roof shading on building’s energy performance in comparison to that of exposed roof with insulation. A typical office building with specific geometry and schedules has been identified as base case model for this study. This building is simulated using energy modelling software ‘Design Builder’ with base case parameters as prescribed in ECBC. Further, the same building has been simulated parametrically adjusting the amount of roof insulation and roof shading simultaneously. The overall energy consumption and the envelope performance of the top floor are extracted for analysis. The results indicate that the roof shading is an effective passive cooling strategy for both naturally ventilated and air conditioned buildings in Warm and humid climates of India. It is also observed that a fully shaded roof outperforms the insulated roof as per ECBC prescription. Provision of shading over roof reduces the annual energy consumption of building in case of both insulated and uninsulated roofs. However, the impact is higher for uninsulated roofs (U-Value of 3.933 W/m2K), being 4.18% as compared to 0.59% for insulated roofs (U-Value of 0.33 W/m2K).While the general assumption is that roof insulation helps in reducing the energy consumption in tropical buildings, it is observed to be the other way when insulation is provided with roof shading. It is due to restricted heat loss during night.

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